


The View From Under the Crown

by orphan_account



Series: TsukkiKage Week 2015 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Karasuno Eventually Becomes the 'Kageyama Protection Squad', M/M, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Recovery, Romance, slow-burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:19:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6642901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looks can be incredibly misleading. </p><p>As punishment for fighting, Tsukishima and Kageyama have to spend the entire weekend together. Tsukishima comes to understand that just because Kageyama acts like a king doesn't mean he is, and that he's the only thing standing in the way of Kageyama and total self-destruction. </p><p>Sometimes the unlikeliest people have traumatic pasts. This is how Tsukishima found that unlikely person and saved him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise in advance for the angst. As much as I love Kageyama, he gets the brunt of the angst in my fanfics a lot of the time. 
> 
> Also, if you feel I should add more warnings to the tags, feel free to tell me so and I'll add it.

The first time Tobio’s father hits him is when he’s five years old. It ends with one of his loose baby teeth falling out, a split lip that bleeds all down his pyjama top, and a shattered picture frame that Tobio’s lucky not to cut his fingers on.

“If I ever see you trying to take another picture of her off the mantle, I’ll kill you,” snarls Hitoshi, as he grabs the broken picture frame and throws it over his shoulder. The frame breaks in half and the remaining glass falls out. The scent of alcohol stains Hitoshi’s breath and Tobio forces himself not to wrinkle his nose and shy away from the putrid smell as Hitoshi leans into his personal space. “Murderers don’t get pictures. You’re the one that killed her, you don’t get to see her face.”

Hitoshi grabs Tobio by the back of his pyjama shirt and throws him bodily into his bedroom, slamming the door shut. Tobio sobs as he takes off his soiled pyjama shirt and uses it to staunch the bleeding in his lip and to wipe the drying blood off his chin and neck. Once he’s done the best he can, he crawls back into bed and hides under the blankets, and cries until he falls asleep.

 

* * *

 

Tobio sees a game of volleyball on the television a couple months later after his children’s cartoons are over. He’s made himself a television dinner, having stood precariously on a kitchen stool to put the carton in the microwave.

He’s in such awe of the volleyball players. He wishes that he could play like them, be as tall as them. Tall people don’t get smacked across the face so hard they bleed and bruise and are forced to stay home alone and not go to the day-care centre so the ladies who work there won’t ask questions.

Tall people are older, stronger and don’t have to hide in their bedrooms, stuffing a kitchen chair under the door so it can’t be opened when their drunken father comes home from a bar spoiling for a fight.

Tobio wants to be just like them.

He swipes Hitoshi’s old library card from his wallet one day when he’s passed out on the sofa, reeking of alcohol. It’s right at the back of his wallet, hidden by cards he never uses anymore, and Tobio knows he won’t miss it. He’s never seen Hitoshi bring home a book; has never seen him read one of the dusty fiction novels that sits on the packed bookshelf in the living room, a remanent of Tobio’s mother. Her books were the one thing Hitoshi could never get rid of.

Tobio’s not allowed to touch the books on those shelves. His father always notices if the dust is disturbed. Tobio doesn’t have many more baby teeth he can stand to lose by angering his father.

He borrows all of the books on volleyball the library has to provide—it’s not much, but he’s happy. The librarian almost doesn’t let him have them, because this card is meant for an adult user and he’s only a child. He manages to convince her to let him borrow them, though, by stating he has his father’s permission.

She gives him a plastic bag to put the books in so he doesn’t have to struggle carrying them home, and tells him he has a month to read them and bring them back. He’ll get a fine if he brings them back late, and he knows that even though Hitoshi never noticed his library card going missing, he _will_ notice if his money is gone.

Sneaking the books past his father isn’t an issue; he’s still passed out on the sofa when Tobio returns. Still, he tries not to rustle the bag too much. He darts into his room and shuts the door, wedging the chair underneath the handle. Emptying the bag onto his bed, he chooses the book he wants to read first, then stows the other ones under his bed where they won’t be found.

After finishing the first book, Tobio knows that he wants to play. He wants to be able to do all the things the grown-ups in the pictures can do. They’re strong, muscled and talented, whilst he’s still scrawny, little and weak. He likes the setter position best; the whole team relies on them for their attacks. The setter is needed by everyone. As he is now, Tobio’s not needed by anyone. He wants to be needed.

He reads every book at least twice over the next two weeks and practices some of the stances he sees. He wishes that he had a ball and someone to practice with, but he doesn’t attend day-care often enough to have any friends and his household doesn’t have any balls in it. This is the only thing he can do.

Upon entering elementary school, he learns that he can’t join any clubs or teams until his second year. That doesn’t stop him from practicing. Because of his small stature, he’s able to get into the gym and take one of the balls without being noticed. He up inadvertently stealing it because the gym is shut by the time he remembers he has to take it back, and that’s how he came to own his first volleyball.

Around this time, Hitoshi starts leaving him money enough to last a month on his own. Tobio doesn’t know where he goes during that time or what he does, but he’s no longer a punching bag and he’ll never complain about that. He saves up enough to buy a volleyball because the one he accidentally stole is useless now because he took it outside and it got a puncture.

Tobio also gets to sit on a chair in front of the mantelpiece as much as he likes now that Hitoshi is gone, staring at the pictures of his parents when his mother was still alive and Hitoshi was still happy. There’s no photos of Tobio up there. There’s no photos of Tobio in the house at all, so he can’t go and find one to frame and put on the mantelpiece beside his mother. He wonders what she was like and if she would’ve loved him had she lived. Maybe she would’ve loved him enough for two parents and it wouldn’t have mattered that Hitoshi doesn’t like him, because she would.

Thinking of his mother makes him unbearably sad. It’s because of him that she’s not around anymore. It’s all his fault that she won’t laugh with his father as he twirls her around a dancefloor like they did on their wedding night, and she won’t be able to kiss his father on the cheek. Tobio didn’t mean to kill her, but he had, and he’s taken everything away from his father.

Crawling off the chair, Tobio runs to his bedroom and cries, clutching his brand new volleyball to his chest. Murderers don’t get to cry, Hitoshi always tells him, but this time, just like all the others, Tobio can’t help it.

 

* * *

 

One day during school they have to draw pictures and tell stories about what their families are like. Tobio’s the only one in the class who doesn’t know what to do. He knows he’ll get into big trouble if he tells people what Hitoshi is really like.

“Tobio-chan,” says Fujioka-sensei.

“I don’t wanna do this,” he says. “I don’t want to draw them or talk about them.”

“But sweetie, everyone in the class has to do it,” she replies softly. “You only have to talk for a couple of minutes—”

“I don’t wanna!” Standing up, shoving his chair onto the floor with the backs of his legs, he swipes his paper and colouring pencils onto the floor. “I don’t _wanna_ talk about them! I don’t, _I don’t_!”

“ _Tobio-chan_!” Fujioka-sensei exclaims.

Everyone stares at Tobio like he’s crazy. Breathing heavily, he feels tears prickle his eyes and a heavy, burning sensation in his chest. He’s gonna cry. If he doesn’t leave now, he’s gonna cry in front of all his classmates.

Fujioka-sensei takes him gently by the wrist and leads him out of the classroom and into the corridor. She kneels in front of him and places her hands on his shoulders. “Do you want to tell me why you don’t want to draw your family?” she asks.

“My mum is dead,” Tobio hiccups, rubbing furiously at his eyes. “My dad doesn’t like to talk about her. I don’t want to draw them.”

“Ah.” Fujioka-sensei leans back, removing her hands from his shoulders. There’s a light of understanding in her eyes. “Alright then, Tobio-chan. How about instead of your family, you draw your most favourite thing in the entire world and tell that to the class? Would that make you feel better?”

Tobio nods his head. Given a few minutes to calm down, he returns to the classroom to find that his paper and all his pencils have been put back on the desk. He feels a lot better now and sits down and starts drawing.

He ends up drawing pictures of volleyball and tells the class about what he’s read. He can see none of them are really interested in what he’s saying, but he doesn’t care. Fujioka-sensei told him to draw his most favourite thing in the world and he did.

When he sits down, though, feeling pleased with himself, he hears two of his classmates whisper, “He’s really weird” and “What a freak.”

He doesn’t make any friends that year. It sets the tone for many more years to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a really small update because I wanted to get something out there as thanks for the overwhelming response I received for the first chapter. Thank you so much, you guys! I never thought I'd get such a great response. 
> 
> Next chapter is where the plot really starts to pick up, but this is just a glimpse of what Tobio's life is like now that he's at Karasuno. Just a glimpse, though. I suspect the word count will really pick up next chapter too because Tsukishima's gonna be a dick and cause trouble (hint: there'll be a brawl). 
> 
> **Important! Please Read!** I'm participating in the Kageyama Rare Pair Week next month, and so updates for this story will be really slow until after the 10th of June when the Kageyama Rare Pair Week ends. I'm planning on writing heaps of stories for dozens of pairings (TsukkiKage included!) and so I want to devote my time to that for now. Please bear with me!

Karasuno High is different from all the other schools Tobio has attended, especially their volleyball team. He feels like he could fit in here, given enough time. With all his other teams, he felt like he was the puzzle piece from a different game that got thrown into the wrong box with puzzle pieces that all fit together and made a perfect image.

He doesn’t get off to the best start, especially not with Hinata. He vaguely recognises him from last year’s tournament. Remembers his rare athletic skill, quick reflexes, and an almost insurmountable desire for victory. He also remembers the entire team was crap and the match was one of the shortest of Tobio’s life.

Once all that nonsense is sorted out, Tobio becomes a full-fledged member of Karasuno’s volleyball team. He’s proud of himself. For a while, he didn’t think he and Hinata could win the three on three and become members. Hinata’s not what anyone would call a great volleyball player, or even a good one. He needs a lot of work.

“Toss, Kageyama!” shouts Hinata from the back line, preparing to sprint down the court. He’s waving his hand over his head manically. “Give me a toss!”

“Shut up, dumbass,” says Tobio offhandedly. “You should practice your receives more.”

“One toss won’t kill you, Kageyama.”

“Hanging out with you for too long just might,” Kageyama says under his breath.

“What was that, Kageyama?” Hinata cups a hand over his ear. “I didn’t hear you!”

“Nothing,” says Tobio sharply. “Fine. I’ll toss to you—but only once.”

Hinata clicks his tongue impatiently and nods. “Toss, toss! Come on.”

“Shut up,” says Tobio with a roll of his eyes. He hands Hinata the volleyball and takes his position at the foot of the net. “Hurry up.”

After Hinata throws the volleyball up for Tobio and sprints down the court to hit the toss, they end up repeating it several times, until Tobio forgets until much later that Hinata had skipped receive practice. He makes sure Hinata gets an earful.

Still, he can’t deny it was fun.

One of the things he especially likes about this volleyball team is that they don’t bat an eyelash when Tobio tells them he wants to stay and practice as late as he possibly can; in fact, most of them are agree to stay behind and practice with him, though he never asks them to—just as they never ask for his reasons.

These days Tobio’s house is empty more often than not, but the threat of a sudden unwanted reappearance by Hitoshi lingers over his head constantly. Tobio wants to be anywhere other than there.

“Alright, wrap it up!” shouts Coach Ukai, after an old man from the faculty came in to tell them it was time to leave because it’s late. “First years, you’re on cleaning duty.”

Tobio grabs the ball cart and pushes it around the court to pick up stray volleyballs, as Hinata rushes into the storage room to grab a mop, whilst Tsukishima and Yamaguchi go and take down the net.

As the wheels the cart back into the storage room and grabs a mop to assist Hinata, Tobio begins to feel anxious. Despite the fact that Hitoshi wasn’t home this morning—hadn’t been there all week, in fact—there’s no guarantee that at some point he hasn’t return home.

Tobio’s pretty sure he put everything back in their original place before he left school this morning (pictures, especially) and hidden away any valuable items he has, he doesn’t trust Hitoshi not to go snooping. The last time Hitoshi managed to find something (Tobio’s can’t remember clearly, but he thinks it was a trophy from his elementary school days), Tobio had to stay home from school for a week until the bruise on his cheek faded. Thankfully the item Hitoshi found hadn’t been broken.

“What’s the matter, Kageyama?” Hinata asks. It takes all of Tobio’s self-control not to flinch, as he hadn’t noticed Hinata coming up behind him. “You’re distracted today.”

“I am not,” Tobio denies instinctively. “Keep mopping, dumbass.”

Hinata says, “Hey, I bet I can mop the rest of the gym faster than you can!”

“No you can’t, dumbass! You’re on!”

If there’s one thing Tobio likes about Hinata, it’s that he distracts Tobio from thinking about home by issuing all these stupid challenges. It’s nice to get swept up in a competition.

They run the length of the gym, yelling at the top of their lungs, and by this point nobody but Daichi has anything to say about it (“Oi! Stop yelling in the gym!”) because everyone else has gotten used to their antics.

It’s nice. It’s really nice.

Suga treats the team to meat buns tonight and has enough money to allow everyone on the team to have a second one. When he’s finished his own, Tobio reckons he’s not going to be all that hungry when he gets home, so he can skip on dinner tonight and make up for it tomorrow with a big breakfast.

When Tobio gets home roughly half an hour later, he’s relieved to discover the house is empty. He grabs a milk box from the fridge and heads up to his room, wedging the chair under the doorhandle as a precaution.

Using the laptop he bought with money he diligently saved a year and a half for, he grabs his earphones and plugs them in, spending a few hours before bedtime watching videos of volleyball matches.

He tries not to get used to these peaceful nights, but it’s a hard thing. Hitoshi doesn’t come home every few months or so, then drops around for roughly a week to terrorise Tobio, then leaves again.

Despite Hitoshi’s hatred of Tobio, he always leaves enough money for Tobio to get by another few months without him. It’s probably because he doesn’t want to get in trouble with the law because of blatant child abuse.

When Tobio goes to bed that night after his nightly routine, he imagines a life where he’s constantly not looking over his shoulder for signs of danger. That’s probably how it’s like for most of his teammates, and he can’t help the twinge of envy he feels, right before he drifts off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drops this and runs*  
> (No, you're not dreaming.)

Life as Tobio knows it starts to unravel on what should’ve been an innocuous Tuesday afternoon, but in his memories it will be known as the pivotal moment that changed everything.

He wakes, bathes, and eats in an empty house just like usual. The walk to school takes a good half hour because he’s always early and he likes to dawdle a bit and appreciate the beauty of a sleepy, post-dawn town bathed in the pale glow of the rising sun.

If he finds a stone, he’ll kick it along until he kicks it too hard and loses it. If there are birds above him on the electrical wires of the power poles, he’ll go out of his way to avoid walking underneath them, paranoid that they might shit on him.

Completely innocuous, completely normal. A day just like any other.

He meets Hinata at the gates—and then it’s a race to see who can make it to the gym first. It’s a good thing there aren’t many students or teachers in the area, because they scream the whole way there. Tobio wins, but just barely. He’ll have to do some more jogging in the afternoons. He won’t _ever_ lose to Hinata.

School is a huge, boring blur. Honestly, he does try to concentrate most of the time, but everything his teachers say goes through one ear and then out the other. What worries him is that he sees other students diligently taking notes, but his own notebook is bare. He has to hold himself back from scribbling in it, because if he fills it up with nonsense, he’ll have to buy a new one. He’s thought about asking a classmate if he can borrow their notes, but the thought fills him with an odd anxious feeling.

It’s a relief to return to the gym for after school practice. Volleyball is something that he knows, a foundation that he can rely upon. He’s not stupid when he’s on the court, but rather an exceptional player, and he’s able to understand everything he learns with ease. If it wasn’t for his ‘personality problem’, Tobio thinks that high school teams throughout Miyagi would have been tripping over themselves to recruit him.

“Kageyama, give me a toss!” Hinata shouts as soon as he leaps into the gym.

“Actually, Hinata,” says Coach Ukai, “you need to practice your receiving.”

Hinata gapes at Coach Ukai like a stunned fish, then deflates. “Aww, really?”

“Really. It’s non-negotiable.” Coach Ukai folds his arms and closes his eyes, making it clear that he won’t hear any argument. “I want all of you to get good at receiving serves so that our weak spots aren’t so weak anymore.”

Hinata does what he’s told, but he drags his feet across the gym. Doesn’t take too long for him to brighten up when Sugawara-san offers to serve to him.

“Tsukishima and Kageyama,” Coach Ukai continues. “I want you to practice together today and perfect your own quicks.”

“Tch,” says Tsukishima.

 _It’s not as if I want to work with you either,_ Tobio thinks mulishly.

Coach Ukai folds his arms over his chest. “It’s important for setters and middle-blockers to work together as best as possible, so no slacking off, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” Tobio and Tsukishima mutter.

If Hinata had dragged his feet to the court before, then Tobio reckons that he and Tsukishima are _crawling_ toward it. And with good reason.

It’s nothing short of an absolute _disaster_.

“Jump _higher_!” says Tobio. “You’re barely grazing the ball!”

“King, I don’t need you to tell me that. I have eyes, I can see what’s wrong.”

“Then why don’t you _do_ something about it?”

Tsukishima shoots him a glare that could freeze water. “Unlike some, not all of us can claim to be volleyball geniuses. Us common people take time to perfect something; perfection doesn’t just land in our laps like it does with you.”

“What the hell’re you talking about? I practiced every day to get this good!”

Tanaka shouts from across the court, “Oi, you two! Shut up and keep practicing. Arguing ain’t gonna get squat done.” And for his troubles, he takes a serve he’d been too distracted to see to the head. “Ow, shit, damn it!”

Sighing, Tobio says, “Fine. Let’s go again.” He tosses Tsukishima the ball, when he’d much rather peg it at the infuriating bastard.

Tsukishima catches it, backs up a few steps, and throws it up for Tobio to set. He runs forward, jumps, and his fingers push against the ball just enough for it to hit the net and roll over to the other side.

“Should I set it lower, then?” Tobio demands. “With your height, I thought you’d be able to get that easily, but clearly not.”

“Why,” says Tsukishima through gritted teeth, “do you have to go around thinking you’re better than everyone else? I’m fucking _tired_ of your condescension!”

Tobio doesn’t know what the word ‘condescension’ means, but spoken in that tone of voice, he knows it can’t be anything good. “What the hell are you talking about? I just asked if you needed me to set it lower!”

“Oi!” Tanaka shouts again, this time storming up to them. The mark from earlier still sits bright on his cheek. “Stop it, you guys!”

He doesn’t get there in time.

Tsukishima whirls around and shoves Tobio in the chest with enough force to knock him back a few feet. “Everyone’s got to do shit your way, don’t they? If Kageyama says jump this high, god forbid if you don’t meet his standards!”

Pressing a hand to his stinging chest, Tobio looks up at Tsukishima and—and he sees _Hitoshi_ standing there in a drunken rage after finding some small discrepancy Tobio’s caused. Snarling and growling like a wild beast, Hitoshi’s image flickers like static across Tsukishima’s much taller frame.

Maybe Tobio can’t fight back against Hitoshi, but fuck if he’s gonna let Tsukishima walk all over him too.

“ _You asshole_!” he shouts, and lunges at Tsukishima.

 

* * *

 

In the end, Tobio and Tsukishima are banned from club activities for the rest of the week. The other downside to that is now Tobio has to spend the weekend with Tsukishima working on their teamwork. It had taken the team a good ten minutes to pull them apart, and then a further two to keep them apart until they cooled down.

Coach Ukai told Tobio and Tsukishima they ought to consider themselves lucky he’s not going to report this, but if it happens again he’s got no other choice. “This is your first and only warning,” he’d said, and the sheer disappointment in his voice had been enough to make Tobio feel very ashamed of himself. “Do not do it again.”

Tobio walks home alone—usually Hinata accompanies him until they split up at the mountain pass, but this time Tobio can’t stand the thought of being around anyone right now. He kicks loose stones along the footpath, feeling much more miserable than he had this morning. If only he’d known then that his day was going to go to shit.

When he rounds the corner onto his street, it doesn’t register at first that the lights in his house are on. He shrugs it off when he sees it, thinking he must’ve left a light on this morning when he left for school—he’s done it before. And then he spots the car in the usually empty driveway.

Hitoshi is home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really hoping I can make the chapters longer soon. I just wanted to get something out there so that I had some more plot to work with. It feels rushed, and it probably actually is, but it has been half a year and I needed to deliver what the summary promised. But now that I have, I'm gonna try and lengthen these chapters and put a little more meat on these bones.


End file.
